’Monster’ planet discovery challenges formation theory
A giant planet - the existence of which previously thought extremely unlikely - discovered around a small star by an international collaboration of astronomers, with University of Warwick taking a leading role. NGTS-1b is the largest planet compared to the size of its companion star ever discovered in universe - contradicts theories that a planet of this size could not be formed by such a small star Discovered using the state-of-the-art Next-Generation Transit Survey observing facility, designed to search for transiting planets on bright stars NGTS-1b is 600 light years away from us - it is a gas giant the size of Jupiter which orbits a star only half the size of our Sun A giant planet - the existence of which was previously thought extremely unlikely - has been discovered by an international collaboration of astronomers, with the University of Warwick taking a leading role. New research, led by Dr Daniel Bayliss and Professor Peter Wheatley from the University of Warwick's Astronomy and Astrophysics Group , has identified the unusual planet NGTS-1b - the largest planet compared to the size of its companion star ever discovered in the universe. NGTS-1b is a gas giant six hundred light years away, the size of Jupiter, and orbits a small star with a radius and mass half that of our sun. Its existence challenges theories of planet formation which state that a planet of this size could not be formed by such a small star. According to these theories, small stars can readily form rocky planets but do not gather enough material together to form Jupiter-sized planets.
